Kentucky football QB signee Matt Ponatoski joins team after being draft by Reds
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Matt Ponatoski joined Kentucky football workouts three days after the Reds drafted him.
- Ponatoski’s move to Lexington seems to cement his plan to play two sports at Kentucky.
- Ponatoski is poised to compete for the backup quarterback spot behind Kenny Minchey.
Four-star Kentucky quarterback signee Matt Ponatoski is poised to follow through on what he called plan 1B after all.
Three days after the Cincinnati Reds selected Ponatoski in the 18th round of the 2026 MLB draft, the two-sport star joined the Kentucky football team for summer workouts, a UK spokeswoman confirmed to the Herald-Leader on Wednesday. Ponatoski has not announced his decision publicly — the deadline for draft picks to sign contracts is July 27 — but the decision to move to Lexington makes it likely he will follow through on his commitment to play both football and baseball at Kentucky instead of signing a professional baseball contract.
Ponatoski committed to play at UK when Mark Stoops was still football coach, but he signed with the Wildcats shortly after Will Stein was hired to replace Stoops. Stein also recruited Ponatoski to Oregon as offensive coordinator there.
For most of his senior year at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ponatoski was adamant he wanted to play both sports in college, but his public tone shifted in the lead up to the MLB draft.
“I think people who don’t talk to me face to face might get an idea that I want to go play college football,” Ponatoski said in an appearance on Overslotbaseball.com podcast in June. “I do, but that’s option 1B.
“Option 1A is to go be a (MLB) draft pick and go get drafted and go be in an organization at 18 rather than go to college and be in an organization at 21, which is not a bad option either. I want to be drafted. That’s 1A for sure.”
Ponatoski was named Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year in both football and baseball as a junior, but he did not match that same production as a senior in either sport. His MLB draft stock particularly appeared to take a hit as Ponatoski focused more on pitching while playing designated hitter.
His Baseball America draft ranking dropped from 56 in February to 152 before the draft started. MLB.com ranked him as the No. 208 prospect.
ESPN reported Saturday morning the Reds were targeting Ponatoski for an over-slot deal in the third or fourth round, but his hometown team ended up waiting until almost the end of the 20-round draft to select him. Any signing bonus the Reds offered Ponatoski above $150,000 would have to come out of the team’s assigned pool to sign its picks in the first 10 rounds, so it is unlikely the team could offer him more than what he will receive in NIL and revenue-sharing funds to play football for Kentucky.
Still, it will be unclear exactly how much bonus pool money the Reds have to offer Ponatoski until they sign their picks from the first 10 rounds.
Now Ponatoski is poised to compete for the backup quarterback spot behind projected starter Kenny Minchey this fall. He will have ground to make up after missing earlier summer workouts while preparing for the baseball draft, but he will be the most-hyped recruit of the backup options on the roster.
Brennen Ward, the only quarterback returning from the 2025 team, is believed to be the favorite for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart. Marshall transfer JacQai Long, Florida Atlantic transfer Carson Cruver and former Canadian college star Callum Wither are the other options.
Ponatoski’s decision to attend Kentucky was one of several important developments from the draft for the UK baseball team.
The Wildcats are set to lose star shortstop Tyler Bell (Rockies) and ace Jaxon Jelkin (Phillies), but infielder Ethan Hindle and center fielder Jayce Tharnish are set to return after not being drafted. Trinity High School pitcher Grayson Willoughby, The MaxPreps National Player of the Year, told Bat Cats Central on Sunday he had withdrawn his name from draft consideration in order to attend Kentucky.
Now the question becomes how long Ponatoski can stick to his plan to play both sports in college.
The vast majority of his NIL/revenue-sharing money comes from the football roster budget, so he will have to continue to play football to receive it. If Jake Nawrot, a consensus top-five quartebrack in the high school class of 2027, signs with UK as planned in December, though, Ponatoski’s path to the future starting quarterback job could be blocked.
MLB.com noted in its pre-draft scouting report that Ponatoski was unlikely to realize his baseball potential until he focused on the sport full-time. Losing baseball practice time to be a backup quarterback for football might be less appealing in the future, or he could surprise on the gridiron and eventually decide his best path to a professional sports career is in football.
That decision is for the future, though. Preseason football camp begins in less than three weeks.
“I’ve had multiple conversations with Will (Stein) already and his staff. … It’s been fantastic,” UK baseball coach Nick Mingione said in February. “We’re fully ready for (Ponatoski) to do both, and we have a plan to make that happen.”
